Queen Latifah’s ‘Queen Collective’ Is Opening Doors for Black Women Filmmakers

This is why she’s the “Queen.”

Queen Latifah is opening up more opportunities for women filmmakers of color to tell their stories through the Queen Collective, a program developed in partnership with Procter & Gamble, Flavor Unit Entertainment, and Tribeca Studios.

According to Forbes, the program offers women filmmakers of color the opportunity to develop and showcase their short films in an effort to amplify gender, racial equality, and representation in the industry.

“We created this partnership, the Queen Collective, to give women of color an opportunity to create, produce, direct, and have financing for their short film and distribution. We’ll take care of everything from beginning to end and allow them to create their vision,” Latifah said.

Launched in 2019, the Queen Collective provides mentorship, production support, distribution opportunities, and essential financial resources to the innovative filmmakers, some to include the program’s most recent featured directors: Imani Dennison, Luchina Fisher, Contessa Gayles, Idil Ibrahim, Vashni Korin, and Jenn Shaw.

 

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“We’ve seen our directors [would] hire over 50% people of color, over 50% women in their crews, and it created that experience that people needed, it started to build that pipeline that we need. If you want to hire someone, you want to hire the best person; the best person needs to be trained [and have] experience, so if we’re not even getting the experience, how will we be the best?” she said.

Variety reported that the Queen Collective has helped around 100 people find employment in the industry, noting that 75% were people of color.

“I’m not just impressed with the directors, but with the crews they hired because I know all those folks can go on and get jobs in those positions,” Latifah added.

The Queen Collective short films are now available on demand and can be accessed through BET platforms including BET, BET HER, BET SOUL, BET JAMS, and PLUTO TV. Viewers can also find them on the P&G website.